Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more UK-based late-stage investment in (a) semiconductor manufacturing and (b) other deep technology.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Government recognises the importance of scale-up finance for breakthrough technology firms. Since launch in 2018, British Patient Capital (BPC) has committed more than £1.6bn into innovative later stage firms, with a further £9.1bn invested alongside it by private investors.
Future Fund: Breakthrough, launched by BPC in 2021, is a £375m programme enabling direct co-investment into promising later stage R&D-intensive UK businesses. The programme has made twelve investments totalling over £80m, including six investments into deeptech companies, making BPC the UK’s most active late-stage investor in deeptech in rounds above £30m. BPC recently invested £10m in Cambridge-based manufacturer PragmatIC Semiconductor.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is his Department's policy to provide sole traders with the same loan guarantees as limited businesses under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) closed for new applications on 31 May 2022 and saw 97,846 loans approved worth £25.86 billion. The scheme was open to sole traders, provided they satisfied the scheme’s eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an estimate of the number of businesses that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme that have since ceased trading.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
In total, 97,846 facilities were drawn down by businesses under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), totalling £25.86 billion.
As of 31 March 2022, 1,858 facilities (0.19%) had been subject to a default, meaning that the lender had issued a formal demand to the borrower.
BEIS has not made an estimate of the number of businesses that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme that have since ceased trading. This will be considered as part of the scheme's ongoing evaluation, which will consider the impact of CBILS on business survival.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
In total, 97,846 facilities were drawn down by businesses under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), totalling £25.86 billion.
As of 31 March 2022, 1,858 facilities (0.19%) had been subject to a default, meaning that the lender had issued a formal demand to the borrower.
BEIS has not made an estimate of the number of businesses that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme that have since ceased trading. This will be considered as part of the scheme's ongoing evaluation, which will consider the impact of CBILS on business survival.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of raising the energy price cap on standards of living.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is very aware of the difficulties that consumers are experiencing as a result of higher energy prices. This is why we are giving a package of support worth £9.1 billion, which will help over 28 million households.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the National Space Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on how the defence space portfolio can enable wider space sector growth aspirations.
Answered by George Freeman
In September 2021, my Rt. Hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Secretary of State for Defence published the UK’s first joint civil and military National Space Strategy. A core part of that strategy is delivering the defence space portfolio, which will support our goals in space including both protecting and defending the UK and supporting economic growth.
The Ministry of Defence is investing an extra £1.4bn in Defence space technologies over the next 10 years. This is in addition to the £5bn investment in Skynet satellite communications over a similar timeframe. This represents a significant increase in Government funding for the UK space sector and will play a part in stimulating innovation, commercialisation, and growth across the wider sector. Defence will utilise elements of the Defence Space Portfolio funding to further support Space Science & Technology (which includes Research & Development), alongside existing funding.
Ministers and officials engage regularly with the Ministry of Defence to understand the opportunities and challenges to enable the UK’s space sector to grow and flourish, and I look forward to continuing to engage in that process as we implement the National Space Strategy.